You’ve Been Redirected!

I’m not talking about detours on the highway. Many computers these days have their browsers compromised by malware and search redirects. Unfortunately — You don’t even get a detour sign. You know how it starts. You type in an address and end up someplace else. It’s like ending up lost in a dark alley late at night.

The bad guys have taken advantage of your human nature. Your curiosity. You saw an article that looked interesting. You may have been duped into clicking on a link in an email. The next thing you know your computer is possessed. It takes you down even more dark alleys and you can’t get your work done.

Time to make some changes in your protection and how you do things. Here are a few quick steps you can take to keep the malware and search redirects off of your machine.

1) Get a good paid antivirus subscription. At the very least, use the AV that comes from your ISP. I don’t recommend using the free products. You get exactly what you paid for — not much. Some of the free products have even started working with those who want to redirect you.

2) Get malware protection that scans to prevent infections. Malware is not the same as antivirus protection. I used to recommend free products here — but times have changed. You need to work to prevent infections — because it’s almost impossible to clean things up afterwards. None of the free malware products will do preventive scanning — they only work to clean up afterwards.

3) Uninstall all toolbars. The only reason for any toolbar is to either monitor your activity or to redirect you to somewhere that’s not good for your security. I mean remove Every Toolbar. No matter who it came from.

4) Learn more about how to keep your digital life secure. Your personal identity and financial security are at risk every time you get online. Knowledge is power.

By learning how to keep secure online, you’ll be able to focus on what’s important to you; To go your own way, instead of being redirected and getting lost.